Qantas to launch non-stop Perth to Johannesburg flights this year

Expected to launch in December this year, this is great news for the airline, and for South Africans and expats.

Although the finer details are still to be confirmed, such as how many times a week the flight will take place and specifically which aircraft will be used, it has been suggested that at least four times a week, flights will carry passengers between the two cities on non-stop flights. The aircraft will most likely be an Airbus A330-200 jet.

A spokesperson for Qantas told Australian Business Traveller: “We’re always looking at new routes but we have nothing to announce at the moment.”

If the decision to launch this route goes ahead, it will see Qantas take on Star Alliance member and Virgin Australia partner SAA and its daily Perth-Johannesburg flight which Qantas used to sell to its passengers via a codeshare agreement which ended in May 2014.

Qantas will still run its six-days-a-week flight between Sydney and Johannesburg, with plans to boost this to a daily service later this year.

The Perth-Johannesburg flight

Business class passengers on the Perth-Johannesburg flight will most likely be able to relax in a Qantas Business Suite which offers passengers a flat bed on which to sleep.

The departure for the Perth-Johannesburg flight would be from the new international wing of Qantas’ Perth T3 terminal, whilst business class passengers will still need to make use of the domestic business class lounge at Perth’s T4 terminal as the international transit lounge is for London-bound passengers only.

This decision to increase the airline’s international footprint will positively affect not only business travel between the two cities, but will enable South Africans wishing to emigrate to Australia an alternative flight route to the city closest to South Africa. It will be beneficial, too, to the scores of South Africans who wish to visit family in Perth, where so many expat-South Africans have taken up residence.

More information will surely be revealed as the year progresses, as the launch date is estimated to be around 7 December this year.